KRON-TV (channel 4) in San Francisco ends its 52-year affiliation with NBC and becomes independent after Young Broadcasting, which purchased the station more than a year earlier from the deYoung family (who also sold the San Francisco Chronicle to Hearst Corporation), refuses to obey demands made by NBC to manage the station by the conventions of an NBC-owned station (e.g., renaming as "NBC 4", and managing the entire network schedule in pattern with no pre-emptions except for news emergencies). Former ABC affiliate KNTV (channel 11) in San Jose assumed the affiliation and was purchased soon afterward by NBC.

After negotiations concerning a new affiliation agreement with CBS failed, WJXT (channel 4) in Jacksonville, Florida became an independent station on this date, with former UPN affiliate WTEV-TV (channel 47) assuming the market's CBS affiliation.